Customer Reviews

Form and Void (Cerebus, Volume 14)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm writing this with the assumption that you've already read all the previous volumes except for Melmoth, since unless you're really interested in Ernest Hemingway, starting here won't make much sense.

The first portion of the book guest stars Mary Hemingway and her husband Ernest (referred to in the book as Ham Ernestway.) Seriously, Ham mostly just sits there and mopes while Mary steals the scene. Depending on how you "feel" or what you "know" about Ernest Hemingway, you may find this section to be either intruiging or an unfair character assassination. If, after reading this section, you find yourself scratching your head asking, "Okay, why the heck did that happen?" you have to realize that the commandment "Thou Shalt not eat Lion" is a Really Big Deal, even bigger than the Ten Commandments, apparently. For more explanation, ask Dave Sim or (gasp!) wade through the 65 pages of notes in the back of the book (but that won't probably tell you much more than "Thou Shalt not eat Lion").

The remainder of the book wraps up the Cerebus/Jaka story. We finally get to Sand Hills Creek, and you can get some idea of why Cerebus is the way he is from growing up in such a place. "But wait," you cry, "there are two more volumes!" Yes, we still have to see if Cerebus fulfils the prediction of dying "unmourned, unloved, and alone." Joanne could come back...

Note: This volume collects issues 251-265 of Cerebus. The infamous text piece "Tangent" was originally printed in Cerebus #256, but the article is not collected in this volume, so if you want to read it you'll have to do a web search using "cerebus tangent sim" or words to that effect to find it.

The best part of this book is a rather incredible sequence in which Dave Sim analyzes Ernest Hemingway. Remarkably researched this would have made a really interesting graphic novel except that since he was shooting for 300 issues of Cerebus and thus laid it into the Cerebus storyline- thus you have this very realsitic( albeit non-traditional) analysis of Hemingway waeakened by the fact you have an aardvark character in it. This is a good example of how Sims desire to do 300 issues really in many ways shortchanges the artistic and intelelctual potential of the stories he wants to tell

This book continues the storyline that began in "Going Home." Dave Sim turns his literary lens to Ernest Hemingway, using entries from Mary Hemingway's journal as script and inspiration. Beware. This is not the glowing review the most give 'Poppa', but a critical look at deeply troubled writer and his equally disfunctional wife. Dave Sim puts forth a well-documented argument to support his ideas. You could take him to task on his opinions, or enjoy this terrific Cerebus story without ever looking at the notes included in "To Ham or Ham Not"